How to Sell Art on Facebook

by Edward Mercer, Demand Media

Art vendors can use Facebook to show, promote and sell pieces.

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With a huge and growing user base that regularly accesses their accounts, Facebook is one of the most popular destinations on the Internet, a fact that has not escaped many small business owners and vendors. Although the site is still primarily for individual contacts, Facebook has introduced features for businesses. You can implement a few strategies as an art vendor to promote your products and even sell directly through Facebook.

Facebook as a Paid Advertising Platform

Facebook uses the wealth of information users provide in their profiles to sell and target advertising. From a vendor or marketing perspective, the great advantage of Facebook advertising is the ability to select a specific demographic based on anything from geographic location to age range and education level. Particularly in small niche markets like art selling, this ability can make sure that your ads only reach a demographic that is likely to buy, increases your visibility and attracts prospective customers without having to cast a large and expensive net.

Facebook as a Free Advertising Platform

If there's no room in your marketing budget to buy display adds, you can also use Facebook as a free marketing platform by creating company pages. As an art dealer, you could create a business page -- administered by your personal profile -- for your organization, complete with high-quality pictures of are pieces and information about prices and availability in the captions. As users interact with your page, liking pictures or posts, your products gain exposure through Facebook's social networks and posted updates.

Facebook Platform Integration

The Facebook platform can be integrated into any retail website, allowing users to log into another website with their Facebook details and access Facebook features and contacts from that site. An art dealer website or blog with Facebook integration, for example, would allow users to send site content to their Facebook contacts and ask for advice about purchasing. Facebook integration also allows users to post activities such as purchases from your site onto Facebook, generating personal advertising for your customer's contacts and creating a powerful social incentive to buy.

Turning Facebook into an Actual Store

Facebook allows vendors to set up shopping carts within the interface through an application. Shopping cart application options include Liquid Payments, LunarMods, Moluko, Payvment, TabJuice and North Social, each with its own advantages, disadvantages and cost structure. Some charge a monthly fee while others take a commission from sales. All can easily be integrated into a Facebook business page and allow customers to buy your products without leaving Facebook and pay through a secure third-party site.

About the Author

Edward Mercer began writing professionally in 2009, contributing to several online publications on topics including travel, technology, finance and food. He received his Bachelor of Arts in literature from Yale University in 2006.

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